Ice Storm, Part Deux

We have power at our house once again, after 172 hours and change - more than a week for you math-challenged types.

Here's a few thoughts:

-- Plenty of people still don't have power. Many will go without power on Christmas. But the job the utility companies did getting as many people back online within a week was remarkable.

-- And of course, it may not be over yet: We got about a foot of snow in some spots yesterday and another big storm is forecast for Sunday.

-- My minor bitching aside (and it was minor: You should see our comment boards at unionleader.com . . . even the ones we didn't let through! Hey!), this thought occured to me: We are a bunch of wimps.

Seriously, the myth of the "hardy New Englander" was somewhat demolished this past week, especially after seeing some people upset they were without power . . . for hours.

Somewhere, our Pilgrim ancestors are laughing their buckled shoes and hats and knee breeches off at us. Granted, a major reason they stopped here was because they ran out of beer. In hindsight, don't you think an extra barrel or two of porter or stout would've helped them settle in warmer climes?

Anyway, I've been through the Blizzard of '77, the Blizzard of '78, Hurricane Gloria in '85, "The Perfect Storm" in '91, the "Storm of the Century" in '93, a 39-below air temperature in '93, the Ice Storm in '98, and probably a few other weather phenomena I forgot to mention. I can't remember any storm ever displacing me, until now.

And full disclosure: My in-laws got power back Friday night. So for a week, my wife and I and our two toddlers got to crash there. We had hot meals, hot showers and a warm bed. (Granted, at midweek our 4-year-old son confessed he missed his room. Even a playland like Nana and Pop-Pop's has its limits.) I honestly don't know what we would have done if they didn't get power back. So my criticism can be taken with a grain of salt.

At any rate, I actually saw someone compare the situation here to Katrina. Come on: You may have had to throw away a fridge full of food (in our case, a fridge and stand-up freezer-full, though we were in time to salvage the holiday birds), you may have frozen your tuckus off in your home (38 degrees in my house when power was restored), you may have even gone without a shower for a week . . . or longer (yikes!) . . . but you weren't on the roof of your house, watching water rise, praying for rescue as everything you owned was swept away.

Communication was tough to come by. Funny how that switch to the cable phone system seems a bit short-sighted now. Previously, I remember the phone always working in a power outage. But the way we saved trips back to the house was to call. If voice mail picked up, it was still dark. It got to the point where my wife and I couldn't stand the sound of my voice saying, "Hi! We're not able to come to the phone right now. . . "

Look, was I prepared for this? No. Guilty. And yes, I've made fun of all those folks who crowd the supermarkets before a storm to stock up on things. Sufficiently chastised, especially after a run to grab batteries on Friday, I won't again. And a generator is on the to-do list now, as is looking into a wood stove, something I had in my previous house that worked brilliantly during the 1998 ice storm.

Yes, our ancestors were hardy sorts. But they were lucky to bathe once a year and, ahem, relieved themselves outdoors. I like indoor plumbing and modern conveniences.

So I'm a wimp, too.

So be it.

-JDE2

This Abe Lincoln/Amish/Living-Off-The-Grid/Little House on the #!@&ing Prairie Life Sucks

We haven't posted in a while, and while I can't speak for Matt, my issue for what will have been a full week now as of midnight tonight is a lack of electricity. I'm writing this from work.

The question everyone has been asking when greeting an acquaintance in Southern NH the last few days isn't, "How are you?" or even, "How's the Christmas shopping going?" Nope, it's been "Got power yet?"

Last Thursday night, a massive ice storm hit the state and region. Those of us whose previous reference to "a bad ice storm" was the one we had in December 1998 were totally unprepared for the scale of this one.

Do the math: In 1998, my previous house was without power for four days. Some 70,000 customers lost power in the state. A staggering 424,000 customers (note the term, as that probably means far more people) were without power a week ago tomorrow after the storm. The fact that the number has gone down to below 70,000 as of this morning is a testament to the hard work of the crews who have come from as far as Ohio and Maryland to help out.

I really can't complain: My in-laws got power restored within a day, and my family and have had a warm place to stay, hot meals and hot showers for the week. And we should get it restored to our house this weekend, weather permitting. Many folks won't have power for Christmas.

Still, it's been a disheartening experiece to pull up to our dark, cold house (39 degrees inside when I checked this morning) and hear the roar of my neighbors' generators still going after a week.

As I post this, the house is going on its 160th hour without electricity. Amazing.

-JDE2